Impact of graduated driver licensing restrictions on crashes involving young drivers in New Zealand. Issue 4 (1st December 2001)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Begg, D J; Stephenson, S; Alsop, J; Langley, J
• Is Part Of: Injury prevention. Volume 7:Issue 4(2001)
• Page Start: 292
• Page End: 296
• Publication Date: 2001-12-01
• Subjects: young drivers -- graduated driver licensing -- driving restrictions -- motor vehicle crashes; Children's accidents -- Prevention -- Periodicals; Accidents -- Prevention -- Periodicals; 617.1
• DOI: 10.1136/ip.7.4.292
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1353-8047

Abstract

Abstract : Objective —To determine the impact on young driver crashes of the three main driving restrictions in the New Zealand graduated driver licensing (GDL) system: night-time curfew, no carrying of young passengers, and a blood alcohol limit of 30 mg/100 ml. Method —The database for this study was created by linking police crash reports to hospital inpatient records (1980–95). Multivariate logistic regression was used to compare car crashes involving a young driver licensed before GDL (n=2252) with those who held a restricted graduated licence (n=980) and with those who held a full graduated licence (n=1273), for each of the main driving restrictions. Results —Compared with the pre-GDL group, the restricted licence drivers had fewer crashes at night (p=0.003), fewer involving passengers of all ages (p=0.018), and fewer where alcohol was suspected (p=0.034), but not fewer involving young casualties (p=0.980). Compared with the pre-GDL drivers, those with the full graduated licence had fewer night crashes (p=0.042) but did not differ significantly for any of the other factors examined. Conclusion —These results suggest that some of the GDL restrictions, especially the night-time curfew, have contributed to a reduction in serious crashes involving young drivers.